JAKARTA, Indonesia: Indonesia’s Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto looked set to become the new president of the world’s third-largest democracy on Thursday, likely to avoid a runoff against election rivals who have yet to concede.
The ex-general declared victory on Wednesday evening after preliminary figures from government-sanctioned opinion polls – which had previously been shown to be reliable – suggested he would win the high office with a majority in his third attempt.
A slower, official count by the archipelago’s electoral commission also showed the 72-year-old’s odds for the presidency at 55.97 percent with 39 percent of the vote counted, more than double his nearest rival.
“This victory should be a victory for all Indonesians,” Prabowo told an enthusiastic crowd in the capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday night.
He said he would form a government “consisting of the best sons and daughters of Indonesia”.
His supporters danced outside his Jakarta residence after preliminary polls showed he had won.
A “quick count” of government-sanctioned electoral groups has also been used to claim victory in previous elections.
But now he appears on the threshold of his former rival, who, according to observers, unfairly supported the campaign of his defense chief.
Candidate Anies Baswedan, who was the favorite to fight Prabowo in the event of a runoff, said he would respect the result only when it was final.
“We have to respect the people’s decision,” he told reporters at his campaign headquarters after his rival claimed victory.
But according to analysts, Prabowo’s victory is almost certain.
In the pre-election period, much was made internationally about Prabow’s human rights record.
NGOs and former bosses accuse Prabow of ordering the kidnapping of democracy activists towards the end of Suharto’s three-decade dictatorship in the late 1990s.
Some of these activists have never been found and witnesses accuse his military unit of committing atrocities in East Timor.
He was discharged from the army for the kidnappings, but denied the allegations and was never charged.
But voters seem to be overlooking that history as he rehabilitated his image from a feared military figure to a “cuddly grandpa” who dances on social media.
